petch sez

Shoes, tires and suspension will allow you to go faster than horsepower and brakes.

I have found that nothing really good happens after midnight, though sometimes you may think it does.

When trying to get horsepower out a motor, you can’t fool Mother Nature for long. Especially true of boosting a Turbo.

Driving a car fast on the track is one of the top 10 things you will ever do. Curiously I only remember one of the other 9.

When you are having too much fun, things will change.

When you finally got all the answers they change the questions (rules).

When it rains at a racetrack nothing good can happen except for the fans.

The more I hear about Facebook, the more I know people too much time on their hands. To get attention, people are doing some incredible dumb things

Maturity is accepting one can’t have their way all the time. As a mater of fact, not even 25% of the time.

While at a DE drivers meeting, I was asked if there was a spare instructor for an experienced driver who had not been to this particular track, I looked at Pete D and he shook his head no. I then answered “Start at the back of the pack”. That has been the answer ever since.

Sometimes I get really bad Targa tops in for repair. When talking to the owner I ask if this top was really on a car? If owner say yes, I follow up with, going down the road under its own power? That’s how bad some of tops are.

Nothing good can happen at the start of any Race, unless you consider carnage and mayhem good. Though fans will argue this point.

Porsches are the best.

I have always lived my life close to the line, and once in while step over, but not far over.

If we were all as good a driver as we think we are, we all would be in Formula One.

In order to begin negotiations, each must want what the other has.

You can lead a horse to water but to get him to swim on his back you really have something. Or on the track you must slow down first to go fast. The same thing.

I never met a person that admitted they made a poor decision in buying a Porsche.

I love my cars, I love the track but most I love Anne for allowing me to do one and two.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent popularity of taking new and old air cooled 911’s and doing unusual things to them, which some may call sacrilegious. If you haven’t, it’s time you woke up and smelled the gasoline (or reality). I realize this is not for everyone –certainly not Porsche purists – but there are plenty of people forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars for these cars.

There seems to be a trend to have either 100% stock or over the top modified. Companies like Singer (pictured above) are taking 964’s and making them in to $500k long hood retro cars with unique touches and pristine interiors. Others like Magnus Walker are taking Long Hood 911’s painting them unique colors, putting big motors in them with performance suspensions and more. Some of these cars are bringing well over $100,000.

Since I’m at least twice as ‘experienced’ as these guys, I’ve decided to jump in and, with the help of my buddy Mike and Schatten Rappen’ readers, we will build a car. However, we are going to do this on a budget so we don’t have more money in the car than what it is worth. Half of the people who embark on such a project spend way over what the car is worth.

Rule number 1: A car’s worth isn’t how much you have in receipts, it’s the price someone is willing to pay for the it when its completed. If you build a car for a $100k and it is worth only $70k this means you were $30k stupid.

Our budget will be $60k and Mike and I will build this car in his shop at a secret location undetectable by Stuttgart and government drones. The car will either be a ‘68 or ‘69 911. The car will come to us without lids, doors, front fenders, bumpers, gauges, interior, engine, trans, and brakes. In the big leagues we call this a Tub - a blank canvas ready to be customized how we wish.

​But wait - What should we call it? Is this going to be a tribute car, an outlaw, a club car, a bandit or something different?

Task 1 is to let me know what you think we should call this project car. Pick one or suggest an alternative.□ Tribute car□ Outlaw□ Club car□ Bandit□ Other

The color will play a big part in the build, choosing a color from the 60’s or 70’s is the way we should go. It will be spectacular because the paint will be done correctly: doors off, lids off, glass out, etc. The total for prep and paint will be $9,000.

about Dan

Dan Petchel is a Porsche driver, enthusiast and longtime PCA member and he's been tinkering with these beloved German sports cars for close to 50 years. He writes about Porsches, Targa Tops, vintage parts and the people he meets along the way